WOW Steve, that is some bridge. I will have to check my loan status at my local bank. Since I am looking at two fresh barn finds, I may be past the max they will loan me. Do not sell it until you hear back from me.

It could be that someone loaded the wrong number on the core. There may be ways to verify the casting date. Such as the 5/8" hole between #2 and #3 cylinder. Didn't that appear in 1916/17? I think there's other minor changes to the blocks but I don't recall them all at the moment. Some are just changes to "jig holes" and others are boss and/or flange changes.

Don't bother looking in the encyclopedia, they aren't listed there. I saw them somewhere else.

Taking a look at the pictures of the casting date on my block, I noticed the "6" for June is different from the one in "16". The month number looks like a "5" that has been changed by filling in the bottom loop.

Month date

Day and Year

You will notice also that the date is behind the water inlet, not in front of it.

Did notice that the casting date is in front of the water inlet. Most I have seen are on the backside...Interesting?

And...that casting date of the 'modified' 5, seems to me to be just an 'error cast', like some grains of sand got removed and made that 6 look like a 5.

Check of that serial # 1,321,883 in the book says July (7) 5, 1916. On that day only 1/2 the qty of engines were completed as normal, since the factory was closed on the 4th of July!

So, maybe that block WAS cast on May 16, 1916, and the motor completed on July 5, 1916, seems about right.

And...maybe? That block was set back for that 'weld' repair noted, and didn't get back in line for production til after the July 4th break?

The 1917 block has the '7' gone due to sand casting crud over the number plate used for casting dates.

And note this 1916 block, has that casting date on the backside of the water inlet.

Courtsey Phil Milo

As far as the '8' being upside down, the type of 8 stamp would be a factor, some are symmetrical, other aren't. And it was a hand stamp thing any way....that stamper guy, had a brace of stamps mounted in a rack on his belt, if he withdrew the 8 the wrong way, that is what got stamped!

Close of the the line worker, with his belt of number stamps, doing #15 mil, he took his time as sure made that number line straight as an arrow! Use of the guide plate sure helped, most engines never got that kind of care in hand stamping the serial #

I will go way out on a limb here and say that the probable reason that the 6 was changed to a 5 on the casting date has to do more with the cutoff date for many brass car tours being calendar year 1915. Many 1916 cars built in 1915 can go on the tour so long as the car was built in 1915 and an engine number casting date will get you in the door of most brass car tours where there are lots of different car makes on the tour and not that many people are interested in keeping you OFF the tour to the extent that they want to try and look up your motor number or argue about it.

Did Ford ever designate a specific font for the numbers used on Model T serial numbers? By the time the Model A came out the numbers were standardized, but it seems the early T's had some variation. The Service Manual says when putting numbers on a new block to just go down to the local hardware store and buy a set. There are a lot of different fonts and mixtures of fonts within a set. Every set of numbers I look at is different.